Soul of the Gundam Heart, or Project Destiny
by Mirai Kou Keli
Summary: When the GW boys raid an abandoned Oz base, they find a small girl with strange connections to Oz. It's sort of an explanation of how Oz and the Gundams came to be, all the while focusing on the G-boys emotions and thoughts of this girl. Um...I suck at su
1. Prologue

Gundam Soul-Prolouge: Stories  
  
Author's warning-This fic has a *very* light shounen-ai *feel* between  
  
Trowa and Quatre. No real romance, though. It's meant to be saddish.  
  
The wind blew Heero's bangs from his forehead as they stood in front of  
  
the building. It had been so long since the 5 of them had all worked on  
  
the same mission, and Heero was uneasy with the idea. *Oh, well, too late  
  
to turn back. Besides, Heero, you have a mission.*  
  
That was two days ago. Noone expected what they had come across. A little  
  
girl was the only person left in the entire building, abandoned by OZ  
  
soldiers to fend for herself. Her pale white skin and dirty brown hair   
  
gave her a sad, pathetic look, but one glance at her eyes proved that she  
  
was fine. There was something about those large chocolate eyes that left  
  
Heero uneasy. Unbeknownst to him, it was the same look Quatre had when  
  
he was under Zero System.  
  
"Mr. Heero, what are you doing?" She popped up beside him as he clicked  
  
at his keyboard, her long brown hair bouncing behind her. She looked much  
  
better since Quatre had bathed her. She was even a little cute in one of  
  
Duo's over-sized T-shirts. Heero sighed. He hadn't thought it to be a good  
  
idea for her to stay with them, but they needed to keep their profiles  
  
low for a few weeks, so dropping her off at an orphanage was out of the  
  
question. He turned to her. "Nothing that concerns you. Go eat something."  
  
She vaguely smiled. "No, thank you, I'm not hungry." She sat down and  
  
quietly observed as Heero continued to type. After a few minutes, she  
  
became bored and walked out the bedroom door. *Thank God.* He wondered  
  
what it was about her that made him so uneasy.   
  
"Hello, Quatre-sama," she'd been calling him that since he had given   
  
her the bath, "What are you doing?" Quatre put down his cup and smiled  
  
at her, despite his discomfort. "I, young girl, am drinking tea." He   
  
cupped his face between his hands and set his elbows on the table. He  
  
looked down at her thin little face and studied her. "Have you decided  
  
to tell me your name yet?"  
  
She smiled. "No."  
  
"Why not?" She looked away and frowned, a desperate shade befalling her   
  
eyes. She replied without looking back to him. "I can't tell you my name  
  
because you don't need to know it. You and your friends are planning to  
  
give me away, even though I don't belong there."  
  
Quatre frowned, a bit puzzled. "How-Never mind." He smiled. "What do  
  
you mean by 'I don't belong there'?"  
  
"I don't belong with children." Quatre chuckled, despite himself, and  
  
patted her on the head. "But you *are* a child. Don't you want to be   
  
with others your age?"  
  
She turned to him and smiled sadly. "You wouldn't understand."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because you grew up with a family."  
  
Quatre frowned. "Who told you that?" She didn't answer, just stared at   
  
him with those large eyes. He tossled her hair a little more. "That   
  
doesn't mean I can't empathize-oh, empathize means-"  
  
"I know what it means." There wasn't any anger in her tone, just   
  
sincerity. She lightly touched the hand that wasn't playing with her   
  
hair. "But even though you can empathize, you wouldn't understand what   
  
I mean." She got up and began to leave, a dumbfounded Quatre staring  
  
after her. As if as an afterthought, she turned her head to him from the  
  
doorframe. "Don't be sad." And she left.  
  
"That girl has to go." Heero glared at no one in particular. "She'll   
  
just get in the way. There's an orphanage in a city 20 miles north of  
  
here. We can drop her off tomorrow."  
  
Quatre shook his head. "We can't. We have to keep a low profile, remember?"  
  
Heero didn't respond, knowning good and well that he was right. Quatre  
  
smiled briefly then turned and looked at Trowa. "Trowa?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"There's something odd about that girl. I had a very confusing conversation  
  
with her. She seems so sad. And she still won't tell me her name." He raised  
  
a finger. "Plus, while I bathed her, she had a very unusual scar running  
  
down one of her legs."  
  
Trowa registered no emotion and said "We found her in an OZ facility. She  
  
was probably abused." He looked his companion in the face. " 'Don't be  
  
sad'?" Quatre nodded. "That is odd."  
  
"Are you talking about me?" The 5 boys turned to look at the small figure  
  
in the door. "Please, don't. I get curious when others talk about me,   
  
and I'm not supposed to be curious."  
  
Heero glared, a look that was well noticed by the child. She smiled and   
  
walked towards Heero, looking up at him with those big eyes. "Why do I  
  
make you so uncomfterable?"  
  
Heero looked about as flabbergasted as Heero was able. "Who said that?"  
  
"You did."  
  
Heero glared again. "I don't remember that."  
  
She sat down and began tracing the designs on the rug with her fore-finger.  
  
"You said it on the inside, not on the outside."  
  
Heero looked sideways at Quatre, who only shrugged. "What?"  
  
She repeated herself, putting more emphasis on each syllable. "You. Said.  
  
It. On. The. In. Side." She smiled, seemingly growing more fascinated  
  
with her tracing game. "I do make you uncomfterable, right? I'm sorry.  
  
I try not too."  
  
Heero ignored her and turned to Quatre. "When you were growing up, what  
  
did your sisters do when they were this old?"  
  
Quatre shrugged. "Uh, how old are you, little girl?"  
  
"Seven."  
  
Quatre smiled. "I don't know, played with dolls, I guess."  
  
"Mobile Dolls?" The boys looked at the girl's suddenly awed look. "I'm  
  
not allowed to play with MD yet. Doctor L says I can when I'm older."  
  
Duo leaned over and sat next to the girl. "And what do you know about  
  
MD, kid?" She slowly crawled into his lap, much to Duo's surprise, and   
  
lazily began playing with his bangs, flicking them forward and waiting   
  
for them to come back so she could repeat the process. "Oh, I know lots  
  
about MD. Like how to make the programs, and how to transfer flight data."  
  
Heero suddenly became interested. "You do?" He wanted to say "how", but  
  
was afraid that the girl might become wise. She did seem above average  
  
in intelligence. She smiled, but kept looking at a very uneasy Duo. "I'll  
  
tell you how someday." Heero stiffened. "But right now I'm tired. Will  
  
you put me to sleep, Mr.Duo?"  
  
Duo sort of smiled, and he blushed at the amused looks on Trowa's and   
  
Wufei's faces. Even worse was Quatre's sickly gushing smile. "Uh, sure,  
  
kid." He picked her up and put her over his shoulder. She wrapped her  
  
arms around his neck and gave a contented sigh as he trudged up the stairs.  
  
Quatre smiled. "I can't believe she thought I meant MD..."  
  
"Tell me a story." Duo scratched his head as he looked at the little girl  
  
in his bed, her eyes already closed, and gave an uneasy chuckle. "Uh, sorry,  
  
kid, I don't really know any stories." She lazily sighed, indicating she  
  
would soon be asleep, a small, sad smile still tugging at her mouth.  
  
"Can I tell you a story?" Duo felt serene, so he sat on the edge and grinned,  
  
even though she couldn't see it. "Yeah, go ahead, kid."  
  
"Once upon a time...a boy fought a fight to honour the souls of those  
  
who could no longer fight. He acted happy and angry at the same time. But  
  
he wasn't really..." Here she yawned. "Happy or angry. He was sad." She   
  
partially opened her eyes and stared at Duo, who was staring ahead with  
  
a slightly confused look. "Know how the story ends?"  
  
"...no."  
  
She closed her eyes and sighed. "Neither do I." 


	2. Chapter 1

You've got a sad face  
  
You don't show it   
  
And you're smiling too  
  
Even in deep, deep outer space   
  
-"Sir Rockaby", Frank Black  
  
"Teenager of the Year"  
  
  
  
Heero rubbed the sleep from his eyes as the digital clock on his bedside flashed an arrogant red twelve on and off again. //Damn// Heero, being the punctual type, forced himself out of bed in order to go see what time it was in the kitchen. The combination of bare wooden planks and air conditioning to protect the boys from the sweltering summer caused the tips of Heero's toes to become numb by the time he had reached the end of the hallway. Opening the door of the fridge, he slung himself over and grabbed a cola. Allowing himself to yawn, he fumbled with the tab and turned to look at the clock. Four in the morning.   
  
A stream of cold adicity washed the fuzziness from his throat, and he lost all of the information that was just in his mind. Wasn't he thinking about a dream he had? He pushed the inquiry from his mind, knowing it was useless to know. After he remembered he'd regret it anyways.  
  
Deciding sleep was too far away to regain now, he went into the adjoining living room and sat on a frayed grey recliner. He found the remote to the crappy television Duo had bought that morning and clicked the power button. When it didn't work, Heero, mumbling to himself, sat up and leaned forward just far enough to turn it on to whatever channel Duo had been watching the morning before. He was greeted by a psychic who was now giving him reasons to call. Apparently, she knew everything about you.   
  
//She should meet The Girl.// Heero had taken to calling that tiny kid "The Girl". //Yeah, The Girl knows more than you.// He snorted in response to himself. After sitting in the dead glow for a few minutes, Heero became bored. Swishing down the last of his bubbly picker upper, he quietly made his way back to his room. But as he slept, he felt two burning holes in the back of his head.   
  
"Hey," Duo snapped as the little girl crawled into his lap, "I can't see!" He pulled her off and placed her next to him, putting his arm around her so she wouldn't feel unwanted. He hoped she couldn't sense that anything was wrong. He looked down at her smiling face, and was certain she was dry-spelling at that moment.   
  
"What are you watching?" She smiled brightly, closing her eyes and cocking her head to the side. Ever since she had been around the boys it was obvious she prefered Quatre and himself.   
  
"Nothing. I bet there's some cartoons on somewhere, it's Saturday right?" She nodded. "All right, kid, here you go." Duo clicked his tongue and attempted to change it with the remote. Finding it didn't work, he leaned forward as far as he could and pushed the channel button with the tips of his fingers.  
  
"Here we go, kid. 'Power Rangers Light Rescue Rangers'. Hey, I used to watch this when I was a kid!"   
  
The girl smiled. "Wow, really?" Duo nodded. "Of course, it was called 'Power Rangers Time Space Adventure' back then. God, this show's been on forever."  
  
"Duo," Wufei walked through the doorway. When he saw the little girl, he stopped and crossed his arms, his eyes glinting as he looked her up and down. "Heero wants to speak with you and Quatre."   
  
"Sure, Wufei, but you'll have to sit with the kid." Duo smiled like a proud brother who had just taught his sister how to do something bad when she grinned and said, "You can watch 'Power Rangers' with me. I bet *you'd* like it."   
  
Wufei looked Duo up and down. "All right," he took a place on the recliner, away from the child. "He's already talking to Quatre, so get in there now." After a few seconds of silent retaliation, Duo left and went lazily into the adjoining kitchen. Wufei sat still, looking straight at the screen, when he felt an eerie presence.   
  
"Why are you looking at me?" He sneered at the child. She smiled, leaning forward. "Because you interest me."   
  
"I'm a human, not a test subject, kid. I don't want you studying me." She leaned her head to the side. "You don't trust me, do you. And it makes you mad. Because I'm just a little girl, but..."   
  
Wufei got up and pointed a finger at her. "Don't you dare! You will not read me! I haven't given you permission to look inside my brain, you little freak!"   
  
He pulled back, half in shock, half in regret, when tears welled up in her eyes. She didn't cry, though. She held them back and stared at him for a few seconds. Finally, she looked down, as if ashamed, and mumbled, "I'm not a freak."  
  
Wufei wasn't sure what to do. He didn't want to leave her there, alone and sad on the couch, but he was too disgusted to stay. Disgusted with himself. He had seen the way she looked at him when he said that, he knew he wouldn't forget. //But// he thought as he stepped onto the patchy, harsh grass in 'their' front yard, //I couldn't let her say it. If she had said it...It would have been true.// He watched a car pass by on the dusty road. //I couldn't allow her to say I was afraid of her.// 


	3. Chapter 2

Ashes, ashes  
  
We all fall down.  
  
-Part of a famous children's song, refers to the deaths of many children during the Bubonic Plague  
  
The walls were white. The light stung her eyes as her sedated mind attempted to make heads or tails of the situation at hand. She raised her left arm to rub her head, to knead away the pounding, and was shocked to see a string of tubes. One came from her arm and one from her nose. She grunted in anger as she pulled out the one in her nostril, and began to wonder just how worn down she must look. Her mother had been in the hospital for a few   
  
weeks when she was a child. She remembered how old and frayed her usually flambouyant mother had looked, and prayed to whatever God would listen that she didn't look so pathetic.  
  
"Miss Une!" A nurse stopped outside her door in surprise. "You're awake!"  
  
"Anyone can see that," Une yelled in the sharpest tone she could muster. She was pleasantly surprised with herself. "Where the hell am I? And where is that bastard, Tuberov?" The nurse looked confused, then frightened when Une tried to get up.  
  
"Oh, no, you mustn't do that!" The nurse ran over to take her hand and try to sit her down, but Une recoiled and gave her a stinging slap across the cheek. With the oily toungue of a snake, she said "Don't you dare touch me, you lowly bed-pan washing child."  
  
The nurse grabbed a hold of her face and ran from the room, tears threatening to take hold of her. //Baby.//thought Une as she stood up. She looked around for a moment before figuring her next move. //I'll call Trieze-sama, that's what I'll do.//  
  
Her hand went blankly to her breast, in search of the uniform jacket which had for so long contained a cellular. Upon the realization that she was wearing a hospital gown, she pressed the call button on the inside frame of her bed. A crackily voice responded, "Yes?"  
  
"This is Lady Une. I request my belongings to be brought to me immediately."   
  
A muffled conversation ensued, then an answer, "Miss Une, we've been informed of your awakening. Mister Treize will be informed at once."  
  
"What happened to Tuberov?" An embarrassed and secretive answer came, "Uh, you see, Tuberov has been...dismissed of his post. A recent...problem...has caused Mr. Dermail to call for assistance from the Treize faction. Lord Dermail sends his deepest apologies for *any* inconvenience."  
  
"Well I should hope so." Une stopped, then added, "What sort of problem?"  
  
"Well, that information is classified. Us lowly bed-pan washing children have not been informed of that." Une cringed slightly at the cynicism in the woman's voice. She pulled her finger off the button, not bothering to thank her, and sat on the bed.  
  
//What problem has befallen us, Trieze-sama?//  
  
"What do you mean 'dump her off'?!" Duo pushed the chair he had been sitting in onto the kitchen floor, the clatter resonating throughout the room. "That's insane!"  
  
Quatre held onto Duo's arm and urged in a strong voice, "Duo, stop, perhaps Heero will be open to sug-" He was cut off as Duo pulled away in anger. He stuck a finger in Heero's face. "You idiot. That girl is an OZ refugee, you can't just stick her in an orphanage! There's something that makes her different from other kids! She should stay with one of us, out of OZ's reach."  
  
Heero looked at Duo calmly. "I'm surprised you'd be so adamantly against an orphanage. A lot of kids grow up in one. I know of one, in fact, that grew up in one." Quatre tried to understand the undertone to what Heero had just said when Duo, seething at the brim, said, "Yeah, well fuck you. This kid isn't a street-rat who needs a place like that. This kid wouldn't   
  
grow up happy. She'd read some stupid brat and scare them all. Then OZ would find her, and she'd grow up a soldier, like one of us."  
  
"What happens to The Girl is none of our business. We should stick to our mission." He narrowed his eyes. "If she stayed with one of us, we'd all be in danger. She doesn't know we're gundam pilots yet. If she finds out and is caught after that, special or not, she's going to screw us over."  
  
Duo turned away. "Shut up."  
  
Heero pressed on, hoping he was getting through to him. "You keep forgetting she's just a kid, Duo. If she gets caught they'll scare her into revealing everything. She may be able to tell things about us we can't even imagine. Our past, our plans. She'd tell them that, too."  
  
Quatre couldn't handle this. "That's stupid, Heero." The two pilots looked at Quatre in surprise. "She wouldn't be caught if she stayed with us. Even if she was, so would we, and they wouldn't need her to get all the information they needed."  
  
"Idiocy." Duo joined Quatre in the tear-down of Heero's words. "Complete idiocy. They could use her against us if they caught her in an orphanage. You didn't even say they wouldn't, you said it didn't concern us. How come it concerns us if she gets caught while she's with one of us, huh? Maybe she does know we're pilots. She isn't stupid." He picked back up his chair, and with a lopsided grin, continued, "We should take extra precautions to make sure she won't leak info, right?"  
  
Heero got up slowly. "You two can do whatever. I'm leaving tonight. Take the chance." He walked out, adding, "If she's caught, or if she learns to much-"   
  
He paused. "I will have to kill her."  
  
Duo turned to Quatre. "What do we do? We got her now, so where should we bring her?" Quatre pondered for a moment. "How about Cinq? We could ask Miss Relena for a political asylum."  
  
Duo reached over and hit Quatre on the head lightly. "You moron. If we ask for political asylum in Cinq, OZ'll know something's up. I can imagine it now." He sat back down and leaned back in his chair. "Damn."  
  
Quatre frowned. "We could ask Trowa to allow us to stay in his circus. I doubt Trowa would let us down."  
  
Duo looked sideways at Quatre. "Yeah, you'd think that wouldn't you?" He sighed. "No, Trowa and Heero are practically one in the same. Trowa would see this girl as too much of a threat. Maybe Wufei has a little hiding place we can hang..." It was Quatre's turn to shatter Duo's idea. "Yeah, I'm sure Wufei would be all for baby-sitting."  
  
"Fine, then somewhere else, I don't care!" Duo sulked for a moment. "I bet Hilde's still hanging out at the scrap yard. If I were to trust anyone, it'd be her."  
  
Quatre nodded. "If you're sure Trowa isn't trustworthy-"  
  
"Damn, Quatre, he's trustworthy, I guess, but he'd lose his job anyways. He can't just go bunking his war buddies." Duo shook his head. "Christ."  
  
Quatre stood up. "All right, Duo. I'll go get The Girl." He smiled. "Maybe now she'll tell us her name." 


	4. Chapter 3

Ashes, ashes  
  
We all fall down.  
  
-Part of a famous children's song, refers to the deaths of many children during the Bubonic Plague  
  
The walls were white. The light stung her eyes as her sedated mind attempted to make heads or tails of the situation at hand. She raised her left arm to rub her head, to knead away the pounding, and was shocked to see a string of tubes. One came from her arm and one from her nose. She grunted in anger as she pulled out the one in her nostril, and began to wonder just how worn down she must look. Her mother had been in the hospital for a few   
  
weeks when she was a child. She remembered how old and frayed her usually flambouyant mother had looked, and prayed to whatever God would listen that she didn't look so pathetic.  
  
"Miss Une!" A nurse stopped outside her door in surprise. "You're awake!"  
  
"Anyone can see that," Une yelled in the sharpest tone she could muster. She was pleasantly surprised with herself. "Where the hell am I? And where is that bastard, Tuberov?" The nurse looked confused, then frightened when Une tried to get up.  
  
"Oh, no, you mustn't do that!" The nurse ran over to take her hand and try to sit her down, but Une recoiled and gave her a stinging slap across the cheek. With the oily toungue of a snake, she said "Don't you dare touch me, you lowly bed-pan washing child."  
  
The nurse grabbed a hold of her face and ran from the room, tears threatening to take hold of her. //Baby.//thought Une as she stood up. She looked around for a moment before figuring her next move. //I'll call Trieze-sama, that's what I'll do.//  
  
Her hand went blankly to her breast, in search of the uniform jacket which had for so long contained a cellular. Upon the realization that she was wearing a hospital gown, she pressed the call button on the inside frame of her bed. A crackily voice responded, "Yes?"  
  
"This is Lady Une. I request my belongings to be brought to me immediately."   
  
A muffled conversation ensued, then an answer, "Miss Une, we've been informed of your awakening. Mister Treize will be informed at once."  
  
"What happened to Tuberov?" An embarrassed and secretive answer came, "Uh, you see, Tuberov has been...dismissed of his post. A recent...problem...has caused Mr. Dermail to call for assistance from the Treize faction. Lord Dermail sends his deepest apologies for *any* inconvenience."  
  
"Well I should hope so." Une stopped, then added, "What sort of problem?"  
  
"Well, that information is classified. Us lowly bed-pan washing children have not been informed of that." Une cringed slightly at the cynicism in the woman's voice. She pulled her finger off the button, not bothering to thank her, and sat on the bed.  
  
//What problem has befallen us, Trieze-sama?//  
  
"What do you mean 'dump her off'?!" Duo pushed the chair he had been sitting in onto the kitchen floor, the clatter resonating throughout the room. "That's insane!"  
  
Quatre held onto Duo's arm and urged in a strong voice, "Duo, stop, perhaps Heero will be open to sug-" He was cut off as Duo pulled away in anger. He stuck a finger in Heero's face. "You idiot. That girl is an OZ refugee, you can't just stick her in an orphanage! There's something that makes her different from other kids! She should stay with one of us, out of OZ's reach."  
  
Heero looked at Duo calmly. "I'm surprised you'd be so adamantly against an orphanage. A lot of kids grow up in one. I know of one, in fact, that grew up in one." Quatre tried to understand the undertone to what Heero had just said when Duo, seething at the brim, said, "Yeah, well fuck you. This kid isn't a street-rat who needs a place like that. This kid wouldn't   
  
grow up happy. She'd read some stupid brat and scare them all. Then OZ would find her, and she'd grow up a soldier, like one of us."  
  
"What happens to The Girl is none of our business. We should stick to our mission." He narrowed his eyes. "If she stayed with one of us, we'd all be in danger. She doesn't know we're gundam pilots yet. If she finds out and is caught after that, special or not, she's going to screw us over."  
  
Duo turned away. "Shut up."  
  
Heero pressed on, hoping he was getting through to him. "You keep forgetting she's just a kid, Duo. If she gets caught they'll scare her into revealing everything. She may be able to tell things about us we can't even imagine. Our past, our plans. She'd tell them that, too."  
  
Quatre couldn't handle this. "That's stupid, Heero." The two pilots looked at Quatre in surprise. "She wouldn't be caught if she stayed with us. Even if she was, so would we, and they wouldn't need her to get all the information they needed."  
  
"Idiocy." Duo joined Quatre in the tear-down of Heero's words. "Complete idiocy. They could use her against us if they caught her in an orphanage. You didn't even say they wouldn't, you said it didn't concern us. How come it concerns us if she gets caught while she's with one of us, huh? Maybe she does know we're pilots. She isn't stupid." He picked back up his chair, and with a lopsided grin, continued, "We should take extra precautions to make sure she won't leak info, right?"  
  
Heero got up slowly. "You two can do whatever. I'm leaving tonight. Take the chance." He walked out, adding, "If she's caught, or if she learns to much-"   
  
He paused. "I will have to kill her."  
  
Duo turned to Quatre. "What do we do? We got her now, so where should we bring her?" Quatre pondered for a moment. "How about Cinq? We could ask Miss Relena for a political asylum."  
  
Duo reached over and hit Quatre on the head lightly. "You moron. If we ask for political asylum in Cinq, OZ'll know something's up. I can imagine it now." He sat back down and leaned back in his chair. "Damn."  
  
Quatre frowned. "We could ask Trowa to allow us to stay in his circus. I doubt Trowa would let us down."  
  
Duo looked sideways at Quatre. "Yeah, you'd think that wouldn't you?" He sighed. "No, Trowa and Heero are practically one in the same. Trowa would see this girl as too much of a threat. Maybe Wufei has a little hiding place we can hang..." It was Quatre's turn to shatter Duo's idea. "Yeah, I'm sure Wufei would be all for baby-sitting."  
  
"Fine, then somewhere else, I don't care!" Duo sulked for a moment. "I bet Hilde's still hanging out at the scrap yard. If I were to trust anyone, it'd be her."  
  
Quatre nodded. "If you're sure Trowa isn't trustworthy-"  
  
"Damn, Quatre, he's trustworthy, I guess, but he'd lose his job anyways. He can't just go bunking his war buddies." Duo shook his head. "Christ."  
  
Quatre stood up. "All right, Duo. I'll go get The Girl." He smiled. "Maybe now she'll tell us her name." 


	5. Chapter 4

Where all is but dream,   
  
reasoning and arguments are of no use,  
  
truth and knowledge nothing.  
  
-John Locke  
  
*Author's Notes*- I still get out of bed this way when I have to get up in the middle of the night.  
  
She awoke groggy, confused and lost. She couldn't see and feared for a moment she had gone blind; when she saw a moonbeam slice through a thin opening in the heavy blanket being used as a curtain, she was relieved.  
  
Still unaware of just exactly were she was, she kicked the warm blanket off and swung sideways, until she was poised precisely on the edge of the lumpy matress. She felt down with her toes, blindly groping for a foothold, and was surprised to find one so close to the ground. She stood up, knocking over a cup and spilling some type of sweet smelling liquid onto the wooden planks. She quietly cursed herself and pushed forward, hurting her feet every few moments until her head knocked into the closed door with a soft bump. Rubbing her head and releasing a pout, she pushed open a door almost too heavy for her puny arms.   
  
The dull yellow light a the end of the hall seemed to beacon her. Why had she been in a bed? She remembered always sleeping on the couch when she was with the boys. Did she have another fit because of the storm? Did they put her there because they felt sorry for her?   
  
She frowned as the yellow light began to get brighter. It began to burn her eyes, little wasps of pain inside her head seemed incredibly irritable.   
  
Then the laughter started. Not cruel, not mocking. Little wisps of a child's laughter. She listened to the soft sounds of a small girl laugh, and sometimes a little boy would join her. The bright light was getting more intense, but she couldn't stop. She had to see the children.   
  
"Adam, Adam!" A small girl with ebony skin and large green eyes smiled at the boy with short brown hair and beady little prussian blue eyes as she played with a tiny mobile suit doll. It was white and blue, and she began folding it into an airplane like a cheap Transformer toy. "Look what I made! Julius says it's the best one he's ever seen!"   
  
The boy guffawed in protest as he held up another doll, this one shiny and black, with a cute little wand sticking out of it's tiny hand. "Well, Eve, Garrette says mine is the best one he's ever seen. Julius' probably just trying to not make you cry."   
  
She began to tear up, her frizzy hair becoming more visible as the light slowly receded. "Not true, not true!"   
  
Adam smiled. "Yep, he said that all right." Eve started to sob, and the boy with the dangerous eyes began to soften, his search for trouble receding.   
  
He sat down and handed her another doll, this one looking very much like a dragon, and said "No, I was just joking, Evie. Here. I've been working on this one for awhile, why don't you show it to Otto? We haven't made him one yet, and I think he feels left out, you know?"   
  
The light fully receded in time for The Girl to see Eve's reaction. Her eyes expressed such happiness as she took a soft hold of the tiny dragon doll, her face beaming admiration for her friend. The Girl smiled, taking this all in like a dream, a scene from a home she always had wanted.   
  
"Who are you?" The Girl raised her head in shock at the sound of the boy's voice. She took a step backwards as he walked towards her. When she turned to run, he yelled out "Hey, wait! We don't get a lot of kids in here!"   
  
She reluctantly turned to face the boy. While Eve looked much younger than her, only three or four, Adam looked almost ten or eleven. "Where am I?" She asked, her voice suddenly pouty, as if she had been caught in a place she wasn't meant to be.   
  
He smiled. "Why, we're at OZ, silly. Now-" before he finished, she yelled out. "OZ?! OZ?! Why am I at OZ?! I just escaped! I don't like it here!"   
  
She kept crying until a young man came in, only in his early twenties, and restrained her. He was obviously surprised to see another child there and sternly asked "Now just who are you, young ma'am, and how did you get in here?"   
  
She frowned, confusion muddling her mind, "I was just, I just-" She slowly pointed towards the hallway behind her, sleepiness taking hold of her mind. She turned to show him the room, to ask whose it was, but saw only a bright yellow wall.   
  
"Hey, Quatre, she's getting up!" She stared into the bright blue eyes of Duo Maxwell. as she pushed herself out of the bed, he smiled. "Hey, glad you're up."   
  
She looked around her in amazement. "Where's Adam and Eve?"   
  
Duo raised an eyebrow, but still held fast to his smile. "Adam and Eve? What, like the bible?" She now raised an eyebrow at him. "What's a bible?"   
  
The two stared at each other in confusion for a few seconds before Quatre walked in. He smiled lightly when he saw the girl's revival for himself.   
  
"So how are you?" he asked as he walked over to her. She smiled to reassure him, but swept her head from side to side in an effort to locate the mysteriously vanished children. Quatre and Duo looked sideways at each other before Duo said "What are you looking for?"   
  
She frowned. "The other children." She began to describe them, as if they could help her find them. "One had brown hair and eyes like Heero's, except they were nice, and he held a little black MD, and he has friends named Garrette and Otto, and he had a little dragon MD, and the girl was a girl named Eve and she had a white MD and a friend named Julius, oh, the boy was named-" Quatre brought a finger to her lips.  
  
"A dream." He smiled. "Heero and Wufei have left, but we've all decided you'll see them again. Trowa will be leaving soon. He wanted to make sure you'd be all right." He handed her something from his pocket. A little golden band with a pink stone. It wasn't fancy, but it was the most beautifu thng the small girl had ever seen. Quatre smiled as he put it on her right middle finger. "This once belonged to my sister Iria. I want you to have it."   
  
She smiled. "You miss her, don't you Quatre-sama?" He nodded in a melancholy way, not bothering to aske her how she knew that Iria was gone. She reached out suddenly and pulled him close. Into his ear, she whispered, "I'll be your sister, Quatre-sama. I've never had a family."   
  
Quatre smiled sadly as he placed a hand on the back of her tawny tresses.   
  
"I'd like that very much."   
  
"Good. Then call me Moira." 


	6. Chapter 5

Love is just a four-letter word.  
  
--Bob Dylan   
  
Song Title  
  
Cherry cola curls whipped across her face. Shadowy eyes, the color of a crisp winter morning, shifted across the dark alleyway to insure no followers. She sighed, a twisted sigh of cynicism and contempt, as she lay her back against the cold bricks. She fumbled in her jacket for a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.  
  
She stuck the filtered tip in her mouth and lit the front, the flame radiating a quick burst of warmth.   
  
She sucked down on the cancer for a few minutes, then removed the last fourth or so and crushed it under her bright blue sneaker. She pulled the sides of her coat tighter, closer to her body, thinking   
  
//Where the hell is she? Come on, Rita, bring me the little bastard.//   
  
Minutes passed. Finally, a pair of steps could be heard in the distance.   
  
She shoved her frostbitten fingers into her pockets and pulled out a chrome .35. Her fingers slid across the biting cold surface, as she cocked her partner and pulled into the street.   
  
"Marie Octavious, do you plan to kill me?" A girl with soft violet hair, cut closely around the ears, and laughing aqua eyes, gave a slinky smile and, in a upbeat flirty voice, said, "I should have known you'd turn against me. That toy you carry is your only friend."   
  
The opposing force rolled her eyes as she pulled back. "Where is he, Rita Enin?"   
  
"Who?" She laughed, her willowy figure shaking as she went haw, haw.   
  
"Diez, that's who." Marie smiled. "You seem to be forgetting, kid, I hold the upper hand. I still have OZ connections." Her eyes narrowed, her smile grew more grim. "If I get caught, I can always get out. But they won't let *you* leave until you've had another operation." She spun her chrome around her finger lightly, her face showing a 'who-cares' expression. "Too bad, too. Those magnets hurt like hell."   
  
Rita's face grew considerabley paler. "I-I was just joking, Marie Octavious-sama, he's up at the Toriyama Hotel. We can visit him now." She turned, looking over her shoulder every few minutes, and began to lead the way to the infamous Toriyama Hotel.   
  
The walk was cold and bitter, neither trusting the other, both secretly yearning to hold their peices within their fingers, ready to fire if the other one tried something funny. Rita had never liked Marie, Marie had never liked Rita. But they were the only survivors of that chaos at the OZ laboratories...   
  
"Here it is." Rita pointed at a towering building, a large gothic hotel from before even the colonies. She stopped to read the plaque on the front gate, a huge iron cast eyesore that was rusting away at the edges.   
  
// It was owned at one time by a woman named Shisuno Akumo, back in the years before living in space was no longer a children's tale. Back when God wasn't a word, a reason, to fling into your opponents face to justify your cause. Back when...//Rita shook these thoughts from her head.   
  
The two unlikely allies soon reached the brazen brass door with the numbers 8910 running across the front.   
  
Marie nudged Rita with her elbow and indicated towards the door. Rita gave her a sneer and knocked. The sound of cold flesh over bone hitting hard brass resonated through the empty halls. In a few seconds, as Rita raised her fist to knock again, a whispy voice called out.   
  
"Who's there?"  
  
"It's me, Rita Enin!" Rita spoke in an urgent whisper. "I've got M8 with me, now let me in!"   
  
The door was answered by a young, thin face, with tufts of cornsilk hair growing wildy about him. Large royal purple eyes held a bitter coldness, and they were topped by split mousy brown brows. Marie looked down at him in awe. Never before had she seen such a wild, beautiful creature.   
  
He reminded her, somehow, of a gallant unicorn. And his eyes reminded her of a graveyard at night. Dark and cold, forbidden to all but the dead. His eyes held secrets and despair, and Marie no longer wished to look upon them. She seemed to notice Rita avoiding them too.   
  
"R9?" His voice was soft, light, as if it may blow away at the slightest breeze. "Oh, it's you." He looked Marie up and down for a few minutes, then, "And you're M8?"  
  
Rita frowned. "How many times I told ya, kid? It's Rita Enin and this here is Marie Octavious. Preferably, Rita and Marie." Her voice heightened as she waved a finger comicly. "We can't have you going around calling us that, boy. It's a safety hazard."   
  
The boy nodded mechanically, obviously not enlightened. He walked to the large canopy bed and sat. "So, listen, thanks for saving me from that home and all, but why do you guys need me? I'm just a 13 year old kid. I have no desire to get into the affairs of runaway lab rats."  
  
Marie clenched a fist menacingly. "Runaway lab rats?! How dare you, you little brat, you-you" She sighed heavily as she regained composure. "Hey, Rita, why *do* we need this kid?"  
  
Rita grinned. "He goes by the name of Diez Decanem."   
  
Marie looked at Rita as if she'd just turned into the Blue Fairy. "Uh, yeah, so?"   
  
Rita pulled out a peice of wrinkled paper from her jeans pocket. "He *goes* by the name Decanem. I did a little research. Read this."   
  
Marie took hold of the green parchment, smoothing the creases as best she could. What she saw amazed her. It read:  
  
Date of Birth: April 13, AC 182  
  
Place of Birth: L2V1894- St. Mary's Hospital  
  
Name: Diez Henry Catalonia   
  
Father- Hernandes Catalonia  
  
Father's Place of Birth- Spain   
  
Mother- Cassandra Speigelman   
  
Mother's Place of Birth- New Republic of Poland  
  
That was it. No seal of authenticity, no ghost marks. But the paper itself was unique to the OZ registered hospital birth documents. That had been put into action in 176. Thank God for them now that St. Mary's was OZ registered.   
  
Rita crept up behind Marie. "You know what this means, right? Right?!" Her excitement was too much. She almost saw stars as she said, "No watermark! This means that Hernandes or whoever wanted to keep this a secret! An OZ man with a secret birth?! It isn't much, but it's ammunition, right?"   
  
Marie looked ahead, a dead serious expression frozen in her features. "You *idiot*! Look at the name of the father!"   
  
Rita frowned. "'Hernandes Catalonia'. Yeah, and?"   
  
Marie practically screamed. "Catalonia! Dorothy Catalonia!"   
  
"Who?"   
  
Marie smacked her forehead. "The granddaughter of Duke Dermail."   
  
Rita's expression went 180. "Ohmyholyjesus...This is a helluva lot bigger than I thought..."  
  
Diez listened quietly from the bed, absorbing everything. In his head, sentences and random thoughts spun like cotton candy. //Catalonia? Dermail? The man who killed my mama?// The eyes grew darker and darker with every thought, until they were almost black. //That bastard! I'll kill him. And these two idiots are just the tool to use.// He flopped back onto the bed, lids closing. //Yeah, I'll kill him...//   
  
  
  
Moira smiled from between the two sleeping persons beside her. She looked softly up to the milky skinned boy to her left.  
  
//Quatre-sama, my golden prince.// Her eyes turned towards her braided koi.   
  
//Duo, my dark angel.// She wrapped each arm into the folds of one of the boys' elbows and lied back.   
  
The rocket ship wouldn't reach the moon for hours, but she wanted to live every second at full attention.   
  
She snuggled even deeper down, getting a few glances from a nosy old woman wondering why on earth a little girl would be traveling with a couple of teenage boys. //Well, we're not on Earth, are we, ya old bag?// Moira giggled at her thoughts. //I wonder...//  
  
//Will this Hilde woman be nice? Will I have a family like other kids?// She looked at Duo again. //Is he... in love with her?//   
  
She shook her head. //No way. He loves me, and no other women.// She began to fall asleep, her last thoughts of the brilliant wedding she and Duo...and Quatre would have. 


	7. Chapter 6

Moira stared into the round, glowing face of a very pretty young lady. The lady reached out to touch her, but Moira recoiled behind the leg of Duo. Her safe haven. The girl frowned and looked up at Duo. "She doesn't seem to like me," she said with a nervous chuckle.  
  
Duo shook his head. "No way, she likes you," he said as he looked down at Moira. "Don't ya?"  
  
Moira scrunched her nose as if something foul had been waved under neath it. //How would you know? Maybe I don't like her.// Moira let it go however, and gave a unenthusiastic nod. Duo turned to the girl happily. "See, Hilde, I told you she liked you." He pushed on Moira's small back. "Hey, don't just stand there, kid, come in."  
  
Quatre and Duo went back out to the rental and began unpacking luggage as the two girls sat together in the living room, Hilde in a blue chair and Moira taking up as much of the blue couch as she could. Hilde smiled. "So Duo tells me you're seven years old."  
  
Moira bared her two front teeth like an obstinate rat. "He didn't tell me anything about you."  
  
Hilde chuckled nervously again. Last thing she had expected when Duo called her yesterday was permission to house an OZ escapee. "Yes, well, Duo has told me a bit about you. So. . . What is it that you like to do?"  
  
Moira lost interest in her vehemity and began to ignore Hilde's questions and asking her own. "So, when did you meet Duo?"   
  
Hilde was taken aback, but replied, "Oh, a few months ago. He left here a while back, so it was unexpected when he-"  
  
"So, are you two in love or anything?" Hilde stared down into the sullen chocolate eyes of an obviously peeved little girl with more than a tiny blush spreading across her face. "N-no, of course not. I'm only 15, Moira, it would be impossible for anyone so young to have such mature feelings and, uh, no. No, I'm not in love with Duo." She began laughing nervously just as Duo and Quatre walked into the room, having finished unloading their luggage. Duo swung an arm over Hilde's chair-back and said, "So, what're you girls talking about?"  
  
Hilda looked down at her hands with sudden interest, avoiding the mistrusting eyes of the little girl. "Nothing, Duo." She ignored the confusion on his face and stood up. "Anybody hungry?"  
  
Quatre stood up as well. "It would be rude of us to have you cook. Let me do it." Hilde looked at him.  
  
"Do you even know how to cook?"   
  
Quatre gave an exasperated smile. "Of course. Can you imagine any one else doing the cooking when we were holed up in that little house?"  
  
Hilde smiled. "No, I guess not. Why don't you come with me, and I'll show you were everything is." She led him into the kitchen, whereas a clatter of cupboards openig and closing ensued.   
  
Duo sat down in the chair where Hilde had been sitting and began to search for the remote. When he found it (it was under the coffee table) he said to Moira "Okay, squirt, what do you want to watch? I suggest wrestling." He absentmindedly turned it to the ballet of fools, ignoring the girl's silence. After an excruciating move on The Stonebrick's part, he said to her "Nice move, huh?"  
  
Still no answer.  
  
Duo looked sideways at her. "I said 'nice move, huh'."  
  
No answer.  
  
Duo looked at her with a confused little grin. "Hey, squirt, you listening?" She only crossed her arms and pouted. He stood up, suddenly very annoyed. "What is it?"  
  
She didn't say anything, only pushed forward and landed and the floor. She began to walk out of the room, then as an afterthought, turned and said, "I lied, I don't like her!"  
  
Dup watched after her as she trudged up the stairs, feeling as though a brain aneurysm may hit at any second. He shook his head and sunk back into his seat. //Kids.//  
  
"Kids!" Marie turned towards the boy with wild blonde hair. "I told you once, I'll tell you one more time! Get your papers in order *before* the guards come, okay?"  
  
Diez nodded vaguely. "Of course." He fiddled with the thin file folder in his hands. "Why do I have to do this?"  
  
Rita turned her head to meet the two. "Don't ask, just do." As a dwindling group of soldiers made their way to the group of unofficial adults, Diez became aware of the reasons behind this. He gave a venomous glare to the soldier who requested his travel papers. Naturally they checked out, and Diez began to realize that if M8 and R9 could forge government documents then they were no amateurs. They would be a bit hard to manipulate.  
  
Rita smiled as the soldier left, her aqua eyes laughing. "Good job, Diez." She patted his back and briskly turned back around.  
  
Diez stood stunned as the images sunk into his mind. There was a flash of doctors surrounding him, the fast-paced pictures of sunken faces and the feeling of cold all around. //These are images from R9's past . . .// He lightly rubbed his forehead. He had hoped the images would stop coming. And they hadn't for so long . . .  
  
"Hey!" Marie looked at him with vague concern. "You okay?"  
  
Diez nodded. "Just fine." 


	8. Chapter 7

The past isn't dead. It isn't even past.  
  
-- William Faulkner  
  
"The operation was a complete success." The young girl paid no attention to the doctor. She could only understand the dull throb in the base of her neck. Everything was so clouded over. Eyes no longer betrayed any emotion. She felt nothing from the people she spoke to, and when you've felt something your entire life that now was severed from you it was like a man going blind. Her violet hair covered the wound, the ball of flesh protruding from her head. When the doctor left, she fell forward, banging her forehead against the rim of his desk, and cried.  
  
"What's wrong?" The girl turned in shock at the soft voice. She saw the silhouette of yet another girl. She was a bit taller, and all the girl could make out was her bushy hair and pale blue eyes.  
  
"Nothing's the matter."  
  
The girl stepped forward, stumbling slightly as she lifted up one leg and pulled her neon yellow sock higher around her calf. "I may not know some things, especially now, but I know you can't cry unless there's something wrong."  
  
The violet haired girl frowned and wiped her eyes across her sleeve. "Yeah, well, I can. So go away!"  
  
The bushy haired girl smiled. "You're funny." She leaned forward and held out a hand. "My name is M8, but you can call me Marie."  
  
The violet haired girl reluctantly took her hand. "You're a test subject? But I thought we don't got no names."  
  
Marie took a finger to her lips. "Shh. Then don't tell. So what's your name?"  
  
The girl frowned. "Well, I'm R9. You know, 9th patient of the Right Wing. So you're the 8th patient of the Middle Floor, right?" Marie nodded. R9 stuck her chin between her thumb and forefingers. "Well, if you's gotta a name, I want one. Hmm." The girl winced thoughtfully. "Oh! Hows about Rita?"  
  
Diez sat quietly and waited for the end of their journey. It had been a total of four hours since the train had left the station, and 6 more were to come. M8 and R9 had long since fallen asleep, and as far as he was concerned, all the better. He didn't need those two ditzy girls to lecture him on what he was to do and what he wasn't. They wanted him to provoke Dermail's granddaughter, apparently his sister. They wanted him to gain militaristic power. But that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted Dermail dead.   
  
He still could hear her. Every time he closed his eyes, her corpse stretched across his lids. Sometimes she would talk to him until he cried or screamed out loud. And even worse when she wouldn't. She was his dark star. He could feel his heart become darker every time, and now it was little more than a ravenous black hole. He was sure that if he killed Dermail her ghost would stop tormenting him.  
  
"When he shall die, take him and cut him in little stars. And he will make Heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun. " Diez chuckled as he quoted the Shakespeare and fell into the cloak of sleep.  
  
"Mama? Mama?" The wild hair of a boy swept across his noble features. His fingers trembled in the race. The angle at which the room tilted confused him, his breath not coming from his lungs but rather his ears. The blackest night was his only advisory and his only friend. A noise behind him. He turned and saw a light. The light was yellow, and his head heart just from it's glow. But he could not turn away. He stepped forward.  
  
"Who are you?" The round face of a young black girl studied him with sharp green eyes.  
  
The wild haired boy frowned. "My name is Diez Decanem Catalonia."  
  
The black girl smiled. "We've been getting a lot of visitors lately. First the brown haired girl and now a blonde haired big boy." She turned to an older white boy with brown hair. "Innit true, Adam?"  
  
The boy didn't seem to welcome their visitor as much as the younger child. "Hey, how you other kids gittin' in here, huh? We've got work to do."  
  
Diez narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, well I do too, so tell me how to get out of here."  
  
Adam smiled. "Yeah, sure you do. What's so important for a gay little shrimp like you to do? Probably nothing big."  
  
Diez turned away. "I have to kill a man. Do you know a Duke Dermail?"  
  
Adam sniffed. "Who's that?"  
  
"Duh. The leader of the Romefellar Foundation. You know, the coexisting counterpart of OZ?" Diez chuckled. "If you know what OZ even is, I mean."  
  
Adam frowned. "What the hell you talkin' about? Everyone knows Julius runs OZ."  
  
"Hey, kid, wake up."  
  
"Huh?" Diez stared into the aqua eyes of R9. He stretched his arm and looked out the window to notice the train station of the Cinq Kingdom in his view.  
  
R9 smiled. "This is it, kid, time to make our move." 


	9. Chapter 8

I've built a little empire  
  
Out of some crazy garbage  
  
Known as the exploited working class.  
  
- They Might Be Giants  
  
Duo held the paper in his hands, barely believing the words. Why would Moira do this? How could she be so stupid?! He ignored the concerned looks of Quatre and Hilde and read the note again:  
  
Dearest Duo and Quatre,  
  
I'm very grateful for what you've done for me. Words cannot adequately express my thanks. However, I've decided to take my leave of you. I have some unfinished business to attend with Oz. I've decided, noting your lack of action, to take matters into my own hands and destroy Oz from within. Do not worry for my safety. I am perfectly capable of handling this.  
  
Sincerely,  
  
Moira  
  
"She's a complete idiot!" Duo exclaimed as he crumpled the note in his fist.  
  
"What are you going to do?" Hilde asked, softly placing a hand on his shoulder. She did her best to hide the tears forming behind her lids. She couldn't stand to see him like this, so...fragile.  
  
"Do?" Duo snickered. "Nothing! The kid wants to be a hero? Let her!"  
  
"Duo!" Quatre scolded, "We can't leave her out there thinking she can defeat Oz! How ridiculous are you? Now," he continued, more softly, "I know you're worried. You loved Moira."  
  
Duo sat down. "No way. Besides, didn't you read the damn note?" He looked away apathetically. "She's perfectly capable f handling this."  
  
Quatre sat down on the couch, next to Duo. "She's a child." This was all he said, but it was all that was needed.  
  
Duo said nothing. Then, slowly, an angry gasp slid out of his throat. "She's gonna die."  
  
Quatre stood up and headed for the door. "Not if we do something, and do it now."  
  
Duo was silent for a moment. He then stood and wrapped his jacket around his shoulders. "Oh, she's dead. Cuz when I find her, I'm gonna beat the life outta her."  
  
*  
  
Moira stood outside the train stop. She didn't have any money, and no ticket, but she knew what she was doing. She sat upon the bench, waiting for train 13 to dock. It was going straight to an Oz base of operations. All she had to do was show up and wait. She sighed and laid her head back against the painted wood. She wasn't quite sure what she would do then. But she knew she was valuable to Trieze. Since he was running OZ, she knew she could bargain some deal with him. Her head for a few colonies freedom. She opened up her little Hello Kitty bag (that Hilde had bought for her as some sort of peace offering...pft) and stared at the cold blade that lay within. If Treize refused...well, Oz would lose something, one way or another.  
  
She raised her head to the sound of the train. It reeled to a stop. She waited, weighing her options. Fate helped her out a little, though. Just as she was about to give up and return to the junk yard, she noted a woman with several small children running about her legs. "Thank God," she said, "I don't know what would be worse, Oz or Duo right about now." She pushed off the bench and sped over to the woman. As the woman handed the tickets to the conducter, the children ran ahead onto the train. No one noticed that she was harboring a stowaway.  
  
Moria sat in front of two young woman, one with flaming red hair and the other with soft violet. She did her best to pay no attention to the other passengers, hoping to get the same, but she couldn't help but feel dread inside her. She knew there was something wrong with the girls behind her. Whenever she was in a group of people, the thoughts came pouring in, a million little voices. But, from these two, there was nothing. Dead air. She had gotten that from a few stupid people, but nothing like this. There was a barrier set up there, as if they knew she could read minds. This confused her, so she began to observe a blonde boy they where talking to. "Normally, I don't do this..." she whispered to herself. She closed her eyes and channeled the boy's mind.  
  
The images were shocking. This boy was obviously twisted. He kept imagining the death of someone, some old guy in an Oz uniform. Moira was so disturbed by this she almost broke contact, but then softer thoughts began to ooze into his violent dreams. A dark and beautiful woman came into view.  
  
"Mother..."   
  
The boy was crying now, but only inside his soul. "Mama, I'll kill Dermail. I'll avenge you. Oz will fall at my hand. Not long now..." he thought as he began to drift off into slumber, "Next stop..."  
  
*  
  
Trieze stood, facing Dermail. "Sir, Project Destiny is a vital experiment. None of the other test subjects can even rival her success rate. She's only comperable to the first subjects who invented the Gundam designs." Trieze faltered when he observed Dermail nonchalantly staring out the window. "Sir," he continued, with more zeal, "We must retrieve the girl! Test indicate that any normal human that she chooses to interact with wcould be affected."  
  
Dermail turned to him. Calmly, he spoke. "And what, Mr. Khushrenada, are said side effects?"  
  
Trieze flipped through the pages of the report he was holding. "Dreams, visions, nightmares so real it actually caused one of our men to die from fright." He studied himself. "Sir, there is another, more personal reason I wish for the child to be retrieved."  
  
"And what is that, Mr. Khrushrenada?"  
  
"The girl is actually a valuable component in controlling the Zero system. Most humans cannot handle the system, but if she is hooked into the system from a mainframe set at a different location and channels the pilot in control, the Zero systems faults should completely cease."  
  
"Should, Mr. Khushrenada, or will?"  
  
Trieze sighed, but maintained his composure. "Sir, the only gaurantee would surely result in the death of the child."  
  
Dermail turned once again to the window. "And that's a problem?"  
  
Trieze was stunned. "Sir," he stammered, "She's only a child!"  
  
"No," Dermail answered, "She is a test subject. The Romefellar Foundation places very little importance on concepts such as 'mercy' and 'care'. You don't gain power by politely asking for it, you know." His voice became dark, thoughtful. "You have to grab it from the common people and rule it over them. Choas comes from the common man attempting to rule himself. Mankind is far too stupid. If a few children die, what of it?"  
  
Trieze fell back. "Sir!"  
  
Dermail waved a hand. "Silence! I will fund your recovery of this 'Project Destiny', as you call it, but I want a 100% success rate. Anything less, and you yourself will die! Am I making myself quite clear, Mr. Khrushrenada?"  
  
Trieze wavered, glowering. Slowly he pulled himself into a submissive bow. "As you wish, Mr. Dermail." 


End file.
